Although beekeeping, and the obtaining of honey as a product thereof, has been intensively practiced for several hundred years, there has been relatively little change in the means by which same has been practiced since the invention of wax foundation by Johannes Mehring in 1857 and since the basic invention by Langstroth in 1853 of the hive in essentially the form still being used.
While the majority of honey is separated from the comb in which it is formed, there are large numbers of people who regard comb honey as a delicacy. Prior practice, however, in the making of comb honey has required considerable care, attention and inconvenience in the provision and manipulation of the sections in which the comb is to be formed and has further involved at best an inconvenient and messy situation in the serving of such honey at the table.
Particularly in the prior practice, it has been assumed that it is necessary to provide the foundation in the middle of a section whereby the bees will build comb for only approximately 3/4 inch on either side thereof. The basis of the present invention is the discovery that the bees will actually build comb consistently without the appearance of burr comb for a distance of at least 11/4 inch from the foundation in one direction only under the conditions set up by the present invention. From this discovery, it follows that the foundation may be placed at the bottom of the section which in turn provides advantages in both the arrangement of the sections within the hive and in the serving to the table of a finished section of comb honey, all of which are set forth further hereinafter.
Accordingly, the objects of the invention include:
1. To provide a novel section for comb honey which will combine into a single unit a number of components which are separate in current practice whereby to make the arrangement within a hive of means for making comb honey more easy and convenient for the beekeeper.
2. To provide a novel section for the production of comb honey, as aforesaid, together with appropriate means for arranging same within a super.
3. To provide a novel comb section and means for arranging same within a super, as aforesaid, which will insure the building by the bees of full and satisfactory sections which will be attractive in appearance and thereby provide a marketable product.
4. To provide a section for the production of comb honey and means for mounting same within a super, as aforesaid, which will be removable after completion of the filling process in a simple and effective manner with a minimum of handling of components other than the sections themselves.
5. To provide sections for the production of comb honey, as aforesaid, which can be utilized directly if desired as the means for packaging, distribution and serving honey at the table.
6. To provide means, as aforesaid, for the production of comb honey with less labor and cost than by current methods and which can be utilized by methods sufficiently similar to presently practiced methods for the production of comb honey that same will be easily employed by a beekeeper familiar with current means and methods for the production of comb honey.